The Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act was passed by the Scottish Parliament on June 10, 2009 and received Royal Assent on July 14 2009.
The Act reforms the current law on sexual offences and creates a range of new statutory offences which criminalise sexual conduct which takes place without consent. It defines consent as "free agreement" and makes clear that consent may be withdrawn at any time. A summary of the Act's main provisions can be found here.
The legislation is based on the recommendations and draft Bill contained in the Scottish Law Commission's Report on Rape and other Sexual Offences which was published in December 2007, and on the outcome of the Scottish Government's consultation on the Report's findings, which took place between December 2007 and March 2008.
After considering responses to the consultation, the Government adopted a different approach to that proposed by the Scottish Law Commission in two areas. The Commission's proposals to decriminalise sexual intercourse between 13-15 year old children were rejected because of concerns that young people themselves would see this as lowering the age of consent.
The Government also decided not to implement the Commission's proposals to decriminalise consensual sexual violence between adults, because of concerns that it could present a loophole for perpetrators of violent sexual assault and domestic abuse.
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